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Okay, well after some pondering, I have figured I will start with the following business model/plan: The goal is to build a ecommerce business worth at least $500 million, built on a few hundred (at least) niche ecommerce sites that all follow a similar proprietary design/format with an integrated back-end infrastructure, maybe say one-hundred sites, each making $5 million, or two-hundred sites, each making $2.5 million. I will start I think with the clothing ecommerce business I had mentioned before, focusing on urban/Hip-Hop fashion clothing brands initially, and hopefully build it to carrying all the dozens (or hundreds) of brands of such clothing. I will add in additional clothing types as well (maybe as a different clothing niche site; perhaps the business will start by becoming a conglomerate of clothing niche sites) such as surf, skate, and snowboard clothing, and then add in shoes, and other types of clothing as well. Also Hip-Hop jewelry.
But then I am going to start adding on niche sites for various products, in particular "blue-collar" products as these I figure can be more recession-proof. I might start with the blue-collar niches first as well, I'm not sure, as the clothing ones might be expensive, but who knows, I'll have to work it out in the business plan. Other products will be like chess sets, globes, clocks, hammocks, batteries, lightbulbs, flashlights, lamps, coffee tables, computer/electronics stands/supports (all of these things also are sold by the other niche companies, but they are profitable sectors I think), and all forms of radio-controlled vehicles (R/C cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, boats, submarines), toys of various kinds, sporting goods (one for extreme sports, such as skateboards, inline skates, snowboarding, etc...and for "regular" sports, such as football, baseball, soccer, etc...) also an anime business, selling all manner of anime products such as manga, clothing, DVDs, toys, plushies, merchandise, etc...and whatever else.
I have also pondered maybe working to add-on a "Create-Your-Own" niche site using a model similar to what that Threadless.com business uses, where users submit clothing designs they like, people vote, and then the business prints clothing with the designs that win the competitions. I have read Threadless is expanding into other product categories, so I figure my business could do the same, and do this printing for everything from T-shirts to gym bags to baseball caps, and so on.
The one detail I am on the fence about is whether to drop-ship strictly or hold my own inventory and ship it. I know holding inventory is a lot more costly, but at the same time, I don't like the thought of depending on other companies to ship the goods I am selling, so this I will have to think about.
The CNS stores from the article I read in the other forum (thanks PHX!) on building a $500 million ecommerce business dropships all of their merchandise, however, I believe there is also an ecommerce business that follows this same model of many niche sites, that ships their own merchandise, holding it all in a big warehouse.
So this will require some thinking.
A HUGE priority of the business will be absolutely fabulous customer service, very informative and very friendly, that will be a must. The customer service will have to be absolutely first-rate and the business will listen to suggestions made by customers too.
My hope is I could work myself up to a salary of about $10 million a year at least. I figure I will start parlaying the money I make from such a business, provided it is successful (if not and I fall flat on my face, I will get up and try again!) into things like real-estate investing, stock market investing, venture capitalism, and in planning other businesses to start (I would hire professional management to run it I imagine at some point or sell the business).
I will work on the real-estate investing, but I also have some ideas for other businesses, such as a staffing company. I recently read about a staffing company in Entrepreneur magazine that focuses on finance and accounting people for businesses, and they have carved out a niche for themselves it seems. I think I could start a staffing company and focus on certain staffing niches, and then apply a similar philosophy, focusing on more and more staffing niches for various industries, and hopefully build it into a large staffing firm worht hundreds of millions of dollars. Not sure, as I haven't studied this industry ehough yet, and this is way ahead, but that's one idea.
I also want to start my own clothing and furniture line at some point, but that is a while away. I also have an idea to build a ultra-luxury resort/destination club for the wealthy, providing incredibly-lavish vacations for people; this has already been done, but I love the idea so much, I would love to create my own luxury real-estate brand. Tim Blixseth has pioneered this idea, first with a ski and golf club strictly for the wealthy (resort experts told him it would never work at first). he first built up a timber fortune, then the timber industry crashed, he went broke, then built up another timber fortune worth about $20 million, then he started his Yellowstone Club, then he and his wife learned about destination clubs, so they decided to build the Yellowstone Club into an ultra-grande club, travelling around the world and using hundreds of millions of their own money to buy up very exclusive real-estate locations.
So if I ever attempt something similar, I need a reasonably-sized fortune from the get-go.
I also have an idea for like an insurance company (something that also requires a fortune to start, anywhere from $5 million to $30 million!) or education company (one guy sold his education company for eight or nine figures I read) and/or a food/beverage products company as well. For example, I have been thinking of trying to build a great Vodka brand, don't ask me why as I don't drink liquor at all, it just sounds cool:smx6:
ANYWAYS, I would start another company in one of these sectors, and work to build it big, then repeat with another one of the ideas. First I need to build up the ecommerce company though.
I figure if the ecommerce company can get to at least $500 million in revenues (less would be okay too, but I want the goal to be $500 million ultimately!), and then I am investing decently in the stock market, real estate investing, venture capital investing (might start a venture capital firm), and then building up another business (I want to build at least two billion-dollar companies/brands in my lifetime), I can get up to the $500 million mark.
If at some point I either sell the company (s) or have professional management start running them, I might start my own hedge fund and see how that goes.
I know hedge fund managers can make tons of money, and many become billionaires, or worth many hundreds of millions for the good ones (many of the new billionaires are hedge-fund managers or private-equity mavens).
Now before you jump on me for doing something solely for the money, I would never do that, the reason I like hedge-funds is because they require a manager who
1) Loves the game of investing
2) Likes to read (according to Barton Biggs, all the good hedgies he knows read a lot)
3) Likes economics and history
4) Likes mathematics
I love all of these fields and I was thrilled to learn all this is involved in hedge-fund management as I learned about it, nothing like being passionate about a field that also can make tons of $$$. But in order to start such a fund, one needs the money first and I have no interest in going to work for Wall Street.
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal, sold it for $1 billion but his stake was worth about $50 million, he wanted to invest his money himself, but he figured he could make more money with other people investing as well, so he started a hedge fund, which won an award for "Best New Hedge Fund" and now he is a billionaire at 40. Of course he is a chess master and California math champion, but I mean starting a company and making lots of money, then starting a hedge fund, and making lots more, this is a doable plan.
Also the guy who started Renaissance Capital Management, he first had a brilliant career as a mathematician before founding it at 40. Now he too is a billionaire. Renaissance is one of those fund filled with Ph.Ds and such, super-brainy people.
But I mean it is doable, just requires knowledge and love of the game.
I am very passionate about both these fields, entrepreneurship and hedge-fund management.
So I figure by following this ultimate plan in incremental steps and being patient and working very hard and productively, I can get myself to be worth at least $500 million. and hopefully become a billionaire. With such money, I can then fund things I am interested in, such as ocean research, I can enter the private space race (the race for private entrepreneurs to build a spacecraft), I can also build my own research yacht with a submersible attached for ocean research (I want to travel down to the bottom of the ocean as an aquanaut, but I want to do so in my own submersible), etc...all this stuff requires some serious, serious $$$.
I know I must also keep in mind that the journey to this is a big part of the fun too and I must live on the way; there's lots of stuff I want to learn and do, which I will.
I know some people here may be wondering why I haven't started on these plans already, as I have mentioned some similar ideas before (ecommerce business) months ago, well the reason is a bit private, but there are some legit reasons holding me back right now, it isn't a matter of procrastination. Hopefully I will be able to start soon though
In the meantime I am reading, learning, planning, and continuing to dream up other business ideas to start later on 
Feel free to constructively critique my plans, I know they are grand, but that is me:cheers:
But then I am going to start adding on niche sites for various products, in particular "blue-collar" products as these I figure can be more recession-proof. I might start with the blue-collar niches first as well, I'm not sure, as the clothing ones might be expensive, but who knows, I'll have to work it out in the business plan. Other products will be like chess sets, globes, clocks, hammocks, batteries, lightbulbs, flashlights, lamps, coffee tables, computer/electronics stands/supports (all of these things also are sold by the other niche companies, but they are profitable sectors I think), and all forms of radio-controlled vehicles (R/C cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, boats, submarines), toys of various kinds, sporting goods (one for extreme sports, such as skateboards, inline skates, snowboarding, etc...and for "regular" sports, such as football, baseball, soccer, etc...) also an anime business, selling all manner of anime products such as manga, clothing, DVDs, toys, plushies, merchandise, etc...and whatever else.
I have also pondered maybe working to add-on a "Create-Your-Own" niche site using a model similar to what that Threadless.com business uses, where users submit clothing designs they like, people vote, and then the business prints clothing with the designs that win the competitions. I have read Threadless is expanding into other product categories, so I figure my business could do the same, and do this printing for everything from T-shirts to gym bags to baseball caps, and so on.
The one detail I am on the fence about is whether to drop-ship strictly or hold my own inventory and ship it. I know holding inventory is a lot more costly, but at the same time, I don't like the thought of depending on other companies to ship the goods I am selling, so this I will have to think about.
The CNS stores from the article I read in the other forum (thanks PHX!) on building a $500 million ecommerce business dropships all of their merchandise, however, I believe there is also an ecommerce business that follows this same model of many niche sites, that ships their own merchandise, holding it all in a big warehouse.
So this will require some thinking.
A HUGE priority of the business will be absolutely fabulous customer service, very informative and very friendly, that will be a must. The customer service will have to be absolutely first-rate and the business will listen to suggestions made by customers too.
My hope is I could work myself up to a salary of about $10 million a year at least. I figure I will start parlaying the money I make from such a business, provided it is successful (if not and I fall flat on my face, I will get up and try again!) into things like real-estate investing, stock market investing, venture capitalism, and in planning other businesses to start (I would hire professional management to run it I imagine at some point or sell the business).
I will work on the real-estate investing, but I also have some ideas for other businesses, such as a staffing company. I recently read about a staffing company in Entrepreneur magazine that focuses on finance and accounting people for businesses, and they have carved out a niche for themselves it seems. I think I could start a staffing company and focus on certain staffing niches, and then apply a similar philosophy, focusing on more and more staffing niches for various industries, and hopefully build it into a large staffing firm worht hundreds of millions of dollars. Not sure, as I haven't studied this industry ehough yet, and this is way ahead, but that's one idea.
I also want to start my own clothing and furniture line at some point, but that is a while away. I also have an idea to build a ultra-luxury resort/destination club for the wealthy, providing incredibly-lavish vacations for people; this has already been done, but I love the idea so much, I would love to create my own luxury real-estate brand. Tim Blixseth has pioneered this idea, first with a ski and golf club strictly for the wealthy (resort experts told him it would never work at first). he first built up a timber fortune, then the timber industry crashed, he went broke, then built up another timber fortune worth about $20 million, then he started his Yellowstone Club, then he and his wife learned about destination clubs, so they decided to build the Yellowstone Club into an ultra-grande club, travelling around the world and using hundreds of millions of their own money to buy up very exclusive real-estate locations.
So if I ever attempt something similar, I need a reasonably-sized fortune from the get-go.
I also have an idea for like an insurance company (something that also requires a fortune to start, anywhere from $5 million to $30 million!) or education company (one guy sold his education company for eight or nine figures I read) and/or a food/beverage products company as well. For example, I have been thinking of trying to build a great Vodka brand, don't ask me why as I don't drink liquor at all, it just sounds cool:smx6:
ANYWAYS, I would start another company in one of these sectors, and work to build it big, then repeat with another one of the ideas. First I need to build up the ecommerce company though.I figure if the ecommerce company can get to at least $500 million in revenues (less would be okay too, but I want the goal to be $500 million ultimately!), and then I am investing decently in the stock market, real estate investing, venture capital investing (might start a venture capital firm), and then building up another business (I want to build at least two billion-dollar companies/brands in my lifetime), I can get up to the $500 million mark.
If at some point I either sell the company (s) or have professional management start running them, I might start my own hedge fund and see how that goes.
I know hedge fund managers can make tons of money, and many become billionaires, or worth many hundreds of millions for the good ones (many of the new billionaires are hedge-fund managers or private-equity mavens).
Now before you jump on me for doing something solely for the money, I would never do that, the reason I like hedge-funds is because they require a manager who
1) Loves the game of investing
2) Likes to read (according to Barton Biggs, all the good hedgies he knows read a lot)
3) Likes economics and history
4) Likes mathematics
I love all of these fields and I was thrilled to learn all this is involved in hedge-fund management as I learned about it, nothing like being passionate about a field that also can make tons of $$$. But in order to start such a fund, one needs the money first and I have no interest in going to work for Wall Street.
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal, sold it for $1 billion but his stake was worth about $50 million, he wanted to invest his money himself, but he figured he could make more money with other people investing as well, so he started a hedge fund, which won an award for "Best New Hedge Fund" and now he is a billionaire at 40. Of course he is a chess master and California math champion, but I mean starting a company and making lots of money, then starting a hedge fund, and making lots more, this is a doable plan.
Also the guy who started Renaissance Capital Management, he first had a brilliant career as a mathematician before founding it at 40. Now he too is a billionaire. Renaissance is one of those fund filled with Ph.Ds and such, super-brainy people.
But I mean it is doable, just requires knowledge and love of the game.
I am very passionate about both these fields, entrepreneurship and hedge-fund management.
So I figure by following this ultimate plan in incremental steps and being patient and working very hard and productively, I can get myself to be worth at least $500 million. and hopefully become a billionaire. With such money, I can then fund things I am interested in, such as ocean research, I can enter the private space race (the race for private entrepreneurs to build a spacecraft), I can also build my own research yacht with a submersible attached for ocean research (I want to travel down to the bottom of the ocean as an aquanaut, but I want to do so in my own submersible), etc...all this stuff requires some serious, serious $$$.
I know I must also keep in mind that the journey to this is a big part of the fun too and I must live on the way; there's lots of stuff I want to learn and do, which I will.
I know some people here may be wondering why I haven't started on these plans already, as I have mentioned some similar ideas before (ecommerce business) months ago, well the reason is a bit private, but there are some legit reasons holding me back right now, it isn't a matter of procrastination. Hopefully I will be able to start soon though
In the meantime I am reading, learning, planning, and continuing to dream up other business ideas to start later on Feel free to constructively critique my plans, I know they are grand, but that is me:cheers:
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